Unhappy with Tech?
Olenchic/Pixabay
We recently had the International Day of Happiness (20 March) and the 2026 World Happiness Report has just been released, with the theme for this year being Happiness and Social Media.
We are told that Nordic countries have held on to their place at the top of the happiness ratings, with Finland once again taking top place, followed by Iceland and, third, Denmark; Costa Rica is in fourth place.
The English-speaking countries of Europe, however, have seen a falling off of young people’s happiness, and North America and Western Europe, report that young people are less happy than they were 15 years ago.
Links have been made to social media being a significant unhappiness factor for the young with heavier users being more unhappy than light users.
The report states that activities such as messaging, learning and creating content are linked to higher wellbeing. Passive scrolling and gaming are reported as lowering wellbeing.
The report describes many people “feeling trapped” by social media. Some are saying that they wish social media didn’t exist, but feel compelled to keep using it as everyone else seems to. The conclusion from the report is that people need to feel they belong in their community, whatever that might be, and that a sense of connection is the key to wellbeing. Despite its popularity social media seems to be having the opposite effect.
Looking at the growing issues around the use of technology in our daily lives, some of us will be experiencing more issues than others, and many are taking steps to consider the use of technology as potentially addictive.
This kind of addiction is now widely recognised as a multi-faceted issue, and therapies are being developed to deal with the complexity of the issues.
Approaches such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) and mindfulness-based interventions are some of the ways people are looking to deal with what can be an overwhelming addiction.
If you or someone you know is dealing with not being able to leave technology alone, you might consider a 12-step programme based on systems as used by Alcoholics Anonymous.
It may seem counter-intuitive but many of the support meetings take place online and are proving very helpful for those who think they might be addicted or know for sure that technology is running their lives.
https://internetaddictsanonymous.org/ has a wealth of resources and can put you in touch with online and in-person meetings.
